Paris Hilton Says She's Been 'Playing a Character' Her Entire Career ... Until Now

You think you know Paris Hilton? You've binged every season of "The Simple Life," "My New BFF," are wearing her perfume, have her music on repeat and bop to her deejay skills every weekend? Sorry, turns out you still don't know Paris.

That's because, according to the heiress, she's been "playing a character" throughout her entire career. That's ... uh, not hot?

"I knew what I was doing but the whole world didn't, so it was kind of frustrating to me to be perceived in that way because it's not who I am at all," Hilton told People of her breakout role on "The Simple Life." "But it was such an amazing and entertaining show that I would just think of it as entertainment."

And while she said the "mean" jokes at her expense cut deep at the time, she understands more now. "Obviously, I've grown as a person," she said. "But just to be judged and have so many misconceptions based on a character that I had invented myself was frustrating."

But it wasn't all bad, obviously. "I built a huge brand off doing it,” she added. “So, I don't really regret it and I'm happy that people are going to finally see this film." And in it, they won't see any of that old persona. In other words, nothing is "hot."

Hilton's famous catchphrase is just one part of her famous persona absent in her new YouTube documentary film "This Is Paris." The other part is apparently everything else.

"I've never done anything like this in my life,' Hilton told Deadline of the project. "In this film I discuss things I've never discussed before. I hope that people are going to see who I truly am."

"During this film, I have discovered so much about myself that I did not even know," she continued. "It was almost like a therapeutic experience

According to the reality star, she got more "raw" and real in this film than she ever has before about her innermost thoughts and feelings, revealing more about herself than she ever has before.

"I was talking about things that are very hard to talk about," she said. "It was an amazing experience but it was very scary. I was freaking out."

Hilton said she gave up full control for this film, something she was initially reluctant to do, but it allowed for this unfiltered and unprocessed look into her world.

"Everything I've done before was me playing a character," Hilton said. And she apparently played it so well that director Alexandra Dean initially balked at the project, too, thinking that Hilton was "that original influencer who had brought that influencer world upon us."

In all honesty, no matter your thoughts on "influencer culture," an exploration into the possible founder of it might be interesting. Plus, the fact that Hilton was disingenuous for 15 years in her online and on-screen persona doesn't necessarily make her different from many of the top influencers.

"I completely did a 180," Dean said about Hilton as the project came together. She compared the hotel heiress to Hedy Lamarr, the subject of one of her previous films, who was known as a Hollywood star in the '40s, but was also a groundbreaking inventor who laid the foundation for Bluetooth technology.

Kind of makes you wonder what shocking revelations she uncovered about Paris Hilton.

For 15 years, we've thought we knew who Paris Hilton was -- even though we kind of all new "The Simple Life" wasn't all truth -- but it turns out we didn't. In May, Hilton and Alexandra Dean are hoping to set the record straight by showing us "This Is Paris Hilton" on YouTube.

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